I was the idiot of the family, but I won a Nobel prize: Orhan Pamuk

ISTANBUL

Hürriyet photo

Nobel Laureate Orhan Pamuk has expressed his regret at the delayed opening of his Museum of Innocence during an interview with Italian daily La Repubblica, Doğan news agency has reported.

"I had always wished to open the museum on the same day that the book was published," Pamuk said, pointing to "political pressure" as the main reason for the delay in the museum's opening.

The novel of the same name was published in 2008 and the museum opened the spring of 2012. The museum was nominated for the premier design award of the same year.

Pamuk said he was happy that many visitors were coming to visit the Museum of Innocence like it was a "pilgrimage," adding that half of its visitors had not even read the book.

In the interview, he also spoke about his private life, his family and his work, talking about how his father wanted him to become an engineer like most of the family members. "I was the idiot of the family, but I won a Nobel prize ... [But] the Nobel prize cannot stop me, there is still a lot to write about," Pamuk said.